A Cutie And Her Claws
by SideshowJazz1
Summary: Shannon didn't know what she'd be in for when she signed up for Total Drama: Revenge Of The Island. Adventure, friends, romance...and the total creep who won't leave her alone are in store for the pint-sized teen with a sting like a scorpion. But she has her sights set on someone that is only inches taller than her, but worth more than a million...Cameron/OC. Please review!
1. Chapter 1: Shannon's Arrival

**A/N: Yes, everyone, this is my fifth, and last, TD OC fic. I've written most seasons, but I've never tried out this one, and I have a pairing in mind for my second favourite RI character, so let's go!**

**Plot: Shannon Taylors may be small and cute, like a strawberry-blonde kitten, but she's also tough and never minces words, and she's known as the "Cutie With Claws". She only signed up for TD for fun, but as the challenges start, it brings out a competitive streak in her, although there's nothing more important to her than her newfound friends and her new crush...**

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything from Total Drama! But I do own Shannon.**

As I leaned on the railings, looking back at the dock I'd just left, I remembered my audition tape...

I rubbed my amber charm with one finger as I smiled at the camera. _"Hey. The name's Shannon, and I really_ _want to be on the next season of Total Drama. Trust me, you don't want to miss out on letting me try out. See, I've watched this show before, and let me say, some people needed to go earlier or later. I'd be good on the show because I get people. If you pick me, I will win this. Definitely. I don't care who else is on there – I'll be there, and I'll have fun winning a million!"_

I just made the audition tape for Total Drama for fun. I'd never actually thought I'd make it onto the show, with all kinds of teenagers like me. But then again, who would turn down a free pass to spend their summer on an island where they had a fourteen-to-one chance to win a million bucks? Not me! So now I was on a boat, speeding towards Camp Wawanakwa to be on the fourth season of this show. This season was called "Total Drama: Revenge of The Island", and I couldn't wait to get there.

I was broken from my thoughts when a boy with red hair and a sly look came up to me. "Hey, sweetheart." he greeted me, with this weird smile on his face.

"Shannon to you." I corrected, turning to face him.

"I'm Scott." the boy introduced himself. "I just wanted to ask you something. Did it hurt?"

"Hm?" I frowned.

"When you fell from the sky, angel."

I slapped him across the face. "First, I met you seconds ago, creep! Second, that is the oldest pick-up-line ever – can't you be original?"

"OK, OK." Scott muttered, rubbing his face where I'd slapped him. "Just trying to be nice. It's a compliment." As he left, I heard him muttering "For someone that small, she can hurt." I counted _that_ as a compliment. At least now, I knew that there was one creep and twelve potentially nicer people.

There were other teenagers everywhere on the boat. On the top deck, there was an African-Canadian kid who looked too young to be sixteen (then again, I was even smaller than he was), staring in awe at everything, and below, a guy playing on a handheld console.

Most of the others were on the same deck as me. A big guy was standing next to a pale blonde who was slightly thinner and taller than me, who was sitting on the railings. Next to them, a girl with scarlet pigtails and a flower in her hair was standing next to a guy with spiky dark hair. Also around the ship was a muscular African-Canadian guy who was flexing, a scowling tomboyish girl in grey sweats, a boy with a crew cut in army-style clothes, a pear-shaped girl with mouse hair and a red hair bow, a tall blonde wearing pink, and an Italian-Canadian girl who, I swear, would've already used up three cans of hairspray by the time we got to camp.

As we neared the island, I spotted Chris McLean, the host.

"Stay out of my way if you value your kiwis." the girl in sweats advised Scott as we got closer.

"Right back at ya." he replied.

The girl with pigtails nudged the spiky-haired guy. "Can you believe we're here?"

"Yeah, it's beautiful..." the boy murmured, looking at her. They were snapped out of it when the boy with the muscles knocked them over. "Hello, gorgeous!" he announced arrogantly, and then kissed his biceps.

As this happened, the spiky haired boy was accidentally thrown right into me, knocking me over.

"Sorry." he apologized immediately.

"It's OK." I answered. "It was that other guy's fault." I smiled at him. "I'm Shannon, by the way."

"I'm Mike." He grinned back shyly.

The girl with the pigtails had been caught by the guy with the crew cut, luckily.

At that moment, the girl on the railings spoke to the big guy. "Your aura is exceptionally purplish-green. Oh, it suits you, though." The boy grinned.

As the camera moved to the deck above us, the blonde in pink started self-advertising herself. "Hey there! Dakota here, and I-" But the camera was already moving on to the girl with the hairspray.

Dakota gave her a shove. "Whoa, who said you could pan away?"

"Don't push me, blondie!" the other girl said, knocking her over and spraying fake tan and hairspray in her face.

The mouse-haired girl started babbling something about fake tan being invented by some great-great ancestor or something.

I couldn't hear the boy on the top deck, but he still seemed awed by everything he saw, enough for a bunch of birds to knock him onto the deck, just next to the guy playing on his console.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Chris holding a remote. He pressed the button, and the boat...exploded.

I landed right next to a rock, which the little African-Canadian kid landed on. "Is this what pain tastes like?" he groaned, slipping into the water.

"Chris is _so _getting the beatdown for this!" I heard the girl with the hairspray call.

I wasn't too good with swimming myself, although I _could_ swim (just not well), but the other boy wasn't coming up, so I took a breath – and was suddenly out of the water, held in one hand by the muscly guy. In his other hand was the African-Canadian little kid.

"I'll save you, little girls!" he exclaimed, ignoring the other boy's call that he was a boy.

From my view, I saw Dakota lounging in a lifeboat with a lot of guys in another boat taking photos of her. However, Chris exploded it again, and both the boy and I were knocked out of the guy's hands, the boy crashing into the hairspray girl's hair, and me crashing into him. "Hey, no touching the hair, four-eyes!" the girl said fiercely. _Someone's _a little vain.

The first onto the beach was the blonde girl who'd been on the railings, completely, much to the displeasure of the girl in the sweats, who arrived soaked like the rest of us, coming in second.

I managed to swim to shore, while the other boy came out on top of the big guy.

I leant against one of the rocks, where Mike and the girl with the flower were.

"So stoked to be here." the redhead said. "I've been watching Total Drama for ever! Who knows, maybe I'll even make some new friends!"

I grinned at her as she smiled around at everyone.

"Yes." said the blonde. "That would be good, considering you were an only child and all."

The redhead frowned. "Who told you that?

"Your soul reads like an open book. You had such a lonely childhood." The girl took her hand sympathetically. "It must have been difficult."

I took a step away. OK, the blonde was a little creepy. But she seemed nice.

Suddenly, the intercoms crackled. "Attention, fresh meat!" Chris' voice yelled. "See the trail leading into the forest? Race to the end of the trail and do NOT disturb the wildlife. That would be bad."

"Yeah, we don't wanna upset the bunnies!" laughed the muscly guy.

"The tiniest sound can set them off," Chris continued. "Like THIS!" Some music played, making some trees fall, and we all ran for it.

I was fourth to the end of the trail, where Chris was already dividing people up. "Strawberry-blonde cloud pixie, Team B." he ordered, pointing to the place where the girl with sweats was already standing. On the other side of him, the African-Canadian muscly guy was standing with Scott.

"Corporal Brickhouse, Team B." he continued as the boy in army clothes arrived.

"Sir, yes, Sir!" the boy saluted and stood with me.

Chris continued ordering each person as they arrived. "Silent treatment, Team A. Bubble boy, Team B. Zoey the Lonely, Team B."

Zoey was the redhead with the flower. "Only as a child!" she protested. "Seriously!"

Chris continued. "The aura whisperer, Team A. Saved by a girl, Team B. Princess wannabe, Team A. Tan in a can, Team B. Yo, game junkie, Team A! And chatty Staci, Team A." Staci was the girl with the red bow in her hair.

I looked around at my team. The little African-Canadian guy, the girl in sweats, the army guy, the hairspray girl, Zoey, Mike, and I. Huh, could be worse. At least Scott wasn't part of my team.

Chris told us some of the differences in the seasons. First, someone would be cut in every episode – there were no reward challenges. To make up for that, he was going to hide an immunity idol in the campground. If someone was voted off, they could use the idol to stay in the game.

Chris named our teams. We were the Mutant Maggots, and the other team were the Toxic Rats. The reason for the toxic waste references were apparently to do with the island. Just as Mike asked that question, a roar sounded.

"It's the monster!" the African-Canadian boy called out. No, it was only a squirrel.  
>"Awww!" cooed Dakota. She screamed when it blinked vertically instead of horizontally.<p>

"Oh my gosh, what's wrong with it?" the little blonde asked.

As it turned out, Chris had rented out the island to a toxic waste disposal company, who had left chemical waste everywhere, and it was having an effect on the wildlife.

"Most. Danger. Ever!" Chris sang out cheerfully.

We got rewards to help us in the next challenge. We got a trampoline, since our first team member got here first. The other team got a saw.

After Chris cut to commercial, I managed to get everyone's names. On the other team, the gamer was Sam, the muscly guy was Lightning (what kind of a name is that?), the big silent guy was called B (I was told that one by another team member), the pale blonde was Dawn, and I already knew Scott, Dakota and Staci's names.

On my team, I checked out who I knew (just Mike and Zoey) and got everyone else's names. The African-Canadian boy was Cameron, and he seemed nice. He was also the smallest guy on the island, just an inch taller than me. The girl in sweats was Jo. The girl with the hairspray was called Anne Maria, and finally, the army boy was called Brick.

Chris showed us two totem poles, each of them with our team's symbol. Basically, we had to cut them down and ride them down the river to the campgrounds. The first team there got their pick of the cabins, and we had to do it in seven minutes – or the totem pole would explode.

"All right, let's do this!" Jo yelled, jumping on the trampoline and accidentally hurling herself into a bush.

Cameron thought for a moment. "OK, if Jo hits centre of the trampoline with 50 pounds of pressure per square inch-"

"Back off, I want a crack at this!" Anne Maria ordered.

"But I calculated for _Jo's _weight!"

Anne Maria didn't listen. We actually had to drag the trampoline out from her landing point before she stopped bouncing. Well, Jo did.

I looked at the little axe stuck to the base of the pole. "We need to get the axe out of the pole and up to the top to cut the rope." I mused. "How are we going to do that?"

When Brick jumped on the trampoline and grabbed onto the axe, it held fast. He started screaming for help, stuck in the air.

"Sheesh, what a baby." Anne Maria muttered.

"Aw, man, this isn't working!" Mike said frustratedly. Suddenly, he gasped, and said in an old man's voice "Darn it, cut the danged rope already!"

"That's what we're trying to do, Mike!" Anne Maria pointed it out.  
>"Mike? Name's Chester, missy!"<p>

I exchanged glances with Zoey. "I don't get it, do you?" I whispered.

Zoey shook her head. "But I bet it's really funny if you're from somewhere...like...I don't know, France, maybe?"

It was actually Mike that got us the win. Some squirrel with laser beams kept shooting after he threw a rock at it, and it cut the rope. Soon, all of us were on the totem pole, floating down the river.

We all cheered.

Jo, who was at the front, looked back at the other team. "They're gaining on us!"

"It is my duty to inform you, ma'am, that we have bigger problems." Brick pointed ahead.

"No, this is NOT a classic cartoon!" I screamed. There was a waterfall. Seriously, how did this happen in real life? There was always a cartoon waterfall joke, but everyone survived in that.

"My first waterfall!" Cameron said excitedly.

"And maybe our last!" Mike said in his old man voice.

Actually, we survived the waterfall, too, and were riding down a bumpy hill. I felt so insecure, I just instinctively hung on to the person in front of me (Cameron) and shut my eyes.

As I did, I heard Zoey screaming behind me. She was at the back, with Mike in front. I suddenly heard him say "Zoey?" in his regular voice, and then, panicked, "Zoey! Hang on tight!"

I think he saved her from something. I didn't look around, but I heard her reply "OK. Thanks, Mike."

We arrived last, and our totem pole exploded...just as we crashed into the cabin the Rats had already claimed – a huge mansion.

"As the only team with a cabin still standing, the Mutant Maggots win the first challenge!" Chris announced.

Chris gave the Rats another cabin – the twin to our shabby one, pretty much like the ones from the first season

At least there was no elimination ceremony, so I got to chill and hang out with my team – and unpack, of course.

There were two bunks in each cabin. "Hey, Zoey," I said, "Wanna share a bunk with me?"

Zoey smiled. "Sure, Shannon. Do you want top?"

I shrugged. "Sure. If that's OK with you."

Anne Maria and Jo also had to share, of course. As I unpacked, I discovered that I actually got on best with Zoey. Anne Maria was really vain. She spent all her time spraying fake tan and hairspray on herself, while Jo was really harsh and bossy. Zoey seemed a bit nervous and eager to please, but she was nice and I needed a friend.

After I'd unpacked, I sat outside on the steps. Cameron happened to be out there, too. "Hey," I said, "Sorry about hanging onto you back there. It was kind of a reflex, I just freaked out."

Cameron smiled shyly. "It's OK. It was a surprise, but I understand."

I grinned back. "So...just out of interest, why'd you sign up for this?"

"It's kind of a long story." Cameron answered. "This is the first time in sixteen years that I've been able to do anything like anyone else. I was prematurely born, so my mom was really overprotective of me. For most of my life, I've lived in a plastic bubble. I've never really been able to do anything except read. I wanted to do something exciting. I might be weak, but it's my knowledge that I'm counting on to get me through this."

I grinned. "Wow." I said sympathetically. "So...you've never really talked to any other people our age before?"

"Nope." Cameron admitted. "It's kind of overwhelming, but at the same time, it feels amazing to be out. So...why'd you sign up?"

"For fun." I answered. "And to see if I could win a million. Thing is, I think Chris is going to be even tougher on us than he was on the last cast. Did you ever get to watch the show?"

"Not really." Cameron admitted. "A few times. It was hard to hear from inside the bubble, but I got the idea."

By the end of the day, I'd talked to everyone on the team. I liked all of the guys on our team. Cameron especially, but Mike and Brick too. I didn't care much for Jo, or Anne Maria, but Zoey was great. Oh yeah, and I was pretty sure she and Mike had a thing for each other.

Staci was voted off, that night. Everyone was sick of her babbling about her ancestors inventing this and what people did before that.

**Sorry, but the next few chapters probably won't be so long. Hope you liked this one. Wanna review?**


	2. Chapter 2: Making Friends

**Second challenge time already! Thanks for reviewing, Derpimelet1000 (I'm hoping she becomes more defined as the story continues) and Alex (It's already written with that structure – my main purpose with these stories are studying the character interactions rather than changing the storylines around).**

When I woke up the next morning, my hair was a mess. Not that a mass of strawberry blonde curls was easy to tame, but still. Anyway, I wasn't the one that noticed it first.

"Girl, you have got to do something about that hair!" was the first thing Anne Maria said.

"What?" I groaned.

"A brush and a little bit of hairspray would help." she continued as I got out of bed.

"I haven't got any hairspray." I said. "What about if I borrow some of yours?"

"No way, strawberry cloud!" she said defensively. "Sure you need it, but get your own!"

"All right, all right." I muttered. "I was just asking. And by the way, you don't need to call me that!"

After I showered, I got dressed in my blue T-shirt, pink jeans and sandals, and went to join everyone else. Chris called us before we got any breakfast.

"But Lightning hasn't had his DPA!" Lightning protested. His team gave him confused looks. "Daily protein allotment, duh!"

"And I haven't had enough beauty sleep!" whined Dakota. It's true her eyes were red, but she looked fine apart from that. Chris showed us to the Bay of Dismay, after he confiscated Dakota's mobile phone and Sam's game console.

Mike and Zoey were already bonding, since they seemed to have common interests – after Zoey mentioned an action movie, Mike said that if she was also into ultimate kickboxing, he'd have to marry her (cute). I chatted to Cameron, who was the only person besides Dawn who was even near my height.

We discovered that we had a lot in common, actually. We were both sheltered kids who didn't really have much interaction with others (in my case, I just had overprotective parents – just not enough for them to encase me in a bubble). Although Cameron had read more nonfiction than me, and was probably a child genius, the fiction he had read was in the same tastes as mine, since we both loved the _Harry Potter_ series and coming-of-age fiction in general.

"I hope this isn't another physical challenge." Cameron remarked. "I'd prefer something a little more academic."

"I bet you do, toothpick." Jo said. "I'm surprised your scrawny neck can even support that giant head."

"My greatest strengths are mental!" Cameron defended.

"Well, _you're_ mental if you think you can win Total Drama without getting physical!"

"Hey, physical _and_ mental abilities come into it!" I pointed out. "Look at last season. The finalists were physically skilled, sure, but it was Heather's manipulation – her mental powers – that got her the win. And I don't think I really need to explain all the intelligence that got her opponent to the finals."

At the Bay, each of us sat in a bunch of stands with our team symbol, with excrutiatingly tight harnesses. The challenge was basically – Chris would mention some embarrassing person secret about one of us, and whoever it was would have to press the button in front of us before the time ran out. If we did, we'd get a point. The team with the most points got an advantage in the next challenge.

"But, if no one owns up, this happens!" Chris dunked my team. We were all startled, but it got worse. A shark with legs and feet eyed Cameron hungrily. Luckily, we were back up before it could do anything.

"There's some kind of two-legged shark monster down there!" Mike exclaimed. I was sitting between him and Cameron.

"You mean Fang?" Chris said nochalantly. "Yeah, turns out toxic waste can mess with stuff underwater too. Who knew?"

Chris also dunked the Rats, to show what happened if no one owned up, and if the other team guessed whose secret it was wrongly. If we guessed right after no one owned up, we got a point.

I racked my brains, trying to think of anything embarrassing that Chris might mention about me. Regardless of where he would get it, embarrassing memories raced through my mind, like a movie montage. Which one would Chris mention?

Chris asked the first question for the Rats. "Who did this on the one and only date they ever had?" An unmistakable rude sound played.

We all giggled, except poor Sam, who pressed the button, asking "Where did you get that?"

For our team, the question was about who wet themselves on the first and last day of school.

I didn't see it, but I heard Jo announce "He who sweats it, wets it! Team before pride, Maggot."

It was Brick who pressed the button. "Fine, it was me."

"Thanks, Brick, I know that must've been tough." I heard Zoey whisper. I turned to flash an encouraging smile at Brick, too. After all, his secret didn't change the fact that he was pretty obviously a good guy.

Next up, B had a turn. It was revealed that B stood for...Beverly. He pressed the button without a sound.

"I would've preferred a verbal response." Chris said, although he gave the Rats the point.

"But B never talks!" Dawn objected. "Just look at his aura!"

Chris still dunked them, Scott finding one of Fang's teeth embedded in his skin as he climbed back up (OK...I just hoped that Scott wasn't too lucky because of the tooth). "Thanks for leaving me down there, team." he snapped, undoing the harness. "You can win this stupid challenge without me."

"If he's not doing it, then I'm not either!" added Anne Maria.

"Uh, since I've already been humiliated, can I go?" Sam asked.

"I'm with Anne Maria, we should stop." Mike said. "Not that I've got any secrets to hide..." he added nervously. That got me thinking. What would Mike, of all of my teammates, be so desperate to keep from everyone? He seemed so open and friendly.

"Sit down, Pointy, I'm not losing this game!" Jo ordered, hitting him. I couldn't stand her dictatorial tone, so I purposely disobeyed and stood up to leave.

"Excuse me, if the host says Mike and Anne Maria can go, they can go!" I snapped. "You're not the boss, Jo, Chris is!" I sure as hell wasn't going to take any orders from Jo. She was just way too mean.

Chris didn't want any of us to go, but everyone got into an argument about it, and in the end. Chris dunked all of us, since there was no time left to finish the challenge.

We were soon onto our way to the next challenge.

"Thank goodness the challenge ended before Chris had time to ask me an embarassing question." Cameron said with a smile.

"Let me guess..." Jo teased, "Who needs their diaper changed?"

"I haven't worn a diaper since I was eleven!"

That made Jo and Anne Maria laugh, and if Cameron was lighter, I probably would have seen him blush when he realized what he'd just admitted. As it was, he looked pretty embarrassed. I knew Jo was going to keep picking on him, but I didn't say anything to her.

"There are way worse secrets than something like that." I said to him, trying like crazy to think of something worse.

Jo smirked again. "Like who probably still keeps a pacifier on them?"

I glared at her. "I bet you wouldn't find it so funny if it was your secret! Besides, I haven't EVER used a pacifier in my life! Just because we're shorter than you."

"We have just as much right to be here as you!" Cameron added. "And we'll prove it in the next challenge, you'll see! Right, Shannon?"

I grinned. "Right!"

Actually, we ended up working together on the challenge. It was called the Mad Skills course, and it was like a relay – we would each pass a team mascot to each player (yes, we had an actual oversized maggot, and the Rats had an oversized rat). There were six parts, and each contestant would take one each.

"But," said Chris, "Since the Maggots have seven players, two of which are pint-sized, they'll work together. Shannon, Cameron, you'll be on the same obstacle!"

We both nodded. Oh, and also, we had to wear these glasses to make things blurry. The losing team in the last challenge would've been the only ones to wear them...but after Chris declared no one the winners, we all had to.

I remember my first confessional. "OK, so my team...well, Zoey's nice. Mike seems pretty cool so far...but it sounded like he was even more worried about this secret he has than anyone else was about theirs. Brick seems great – I didn't think a militant guy like him would be as nice as he is. But I could do without Anne Maria, and Jo is already driving me nuts with her bossiness and teasing...but then, there's Cameron." I sighed. "Don't get me wrong, he's kind of nerdy and not that good-looking, but he's sweet and smart, and those are two traits I don't see that often in guys. Plus he doesn't tower over me – he's only a few inches taller, at the most. I hope he likes me." I frowned. "No one will see this, right?"

The order went like this: First, Anne Maria and Lightning would tackle the kicker – no, seriously. Then Brick and Dawn would go through a bunch of cannons. Scott and Jo would go on a rolling pin and dodge wrecking balls. Then there were a bunch of platforms which B and Zoey would cross. Mike and Sam would try to cross these red bouncy things, then hand it over to me and Cameron vs Dakota to try to land in the giant mitt. First team to finish won.

Chris blew the air whistle, and Lightning got kicked, while Anne Maria just ran across and handed the maggot to Brick. However, we soon lost our lead when Brick kept hitting a pole and then got hit with a cannonball after Dawn ducked.

Scott went as slowly as possible, but he still got to the end of the rolling pins before Brick handed the maggot to Jo. Still, he seemed to be trying to go slow, because after he got to the end, he kept stroking the rat and talking to it, ignoring B holding out his hand for it for quite some time.

Jo got past the pins fast, using the wrecking ball to jump further and then it was Zoey's turn. B had extended the Rats' lead, even when facing a couple of mutant beavers. Zoey wasn't so lucky, and ended up with both beavers attempting to kill her once she'd handed the maggot to Mike. Sam was already done by that time, but the rat ran off before he could give it to Dakota, and he was now chasing it.

I was close enough to hear Mike speaking. Suddenly, he gasped, and said in a higher voice with an accent "Only one person can do this! Svetlana, the Olympic queen of gymnastics!"

OK...weird. Yesterday Mike was an old man called Chester. Today, he was a Russian girl gymnast called Svetlana. But he did cross his obstacle in seconds.

"Mike, how did you do that?" Cameron exclaimed.

"That was totally amazing!" I complimented.

"Huh?" Mike said in his normal voice. "Uh...do what? Here!" He pushed the maggot at us and ran, while Sam finally caught the rat and passed it to Dakota.

Cameron held the maggot as we ran to the end of the board.. "Yes! Yes! I've never felt so alive!"

We reached the end and stared at the mitt.

"I'm a dead man."

I reached for Cameron's hand instinctively. "We are doing this. All we have to do is swing, right? And we _have _to prove to Jo that we're not babies."

I could hear Zoey yelling at the beavers attacking her, since her voice was louder than usual. "I said, let me GO!" There was an animal cry of pain, and then I heard Zoey again. "Sorry, but I did tell you to stop!"

Before Cameron could psych himself up with me, Dakota swung, but missed.

"Our turn." I said quietly. "Come on, Cam, we have to do this."

We missed the first time, but luckily, the paparazzi came and distracted Dakota. We swung again, clinging to each other and the maggot, and although we hit a lot of the bats around the mitt, we ended up there.

"The Maggots win!" Chris announced, and all of us cheered.

"High-five!" I slapped palms with Cameron.

Even best, we got a prize – soap, shampoo and conditioner. Most of us (mainly Mike, Cameron and I) had maggot vomit all over us, while Zoey and Anne Maria were covered in mud and Brick had slime on his face.

"Rats, I'll see you at the eliminaton ceremony." Chris said.

"I can't believe this!" Lightning raged. "Lightning is on a team of losers!"

"Come on, winning isn't everything." Sam tried. Lightning went after him with a murderous look on his face.

After I washed that evening, I had time to chill again.

"Hey, Zoey, how come you signed up for this?" I asked.

"I wanted to meet other people." Zoey explained. "In my small town, I don't know anyone else like me, who's

into indie theater and things like that. I don't have many friends at school. All the guys are jocks or delinquents, and the girls are mostly really studious or really vapid."

I smiled. "Well, I hope I'm not either of those things. I only get average grades, and I don't like bubblegum pop."

Zoey giggled. "Trust me, Shannon, you're not like anyone in my town."  
>"And..." I added, "I think you've also caught the interest of a guy who isn't a jock or a delinquent." I grinned. "I can tell already, Mike is <em>so <em>crushing on you!"

Zoey flushed a bit. "You think so?" she said. "He is really sweet. I don't get those impressions he does, but he's a great actor! And apart from that, he is so..." she sighed.

I chuckled. "And so, the first couple of the new cast of Total Drama is forming!" Zoey blushed even more, so I continued. "We call it...Zoke!"

"Shannon, stop, please!" Zoey pleaded. "What if someone heard?"

I turned serious and stopped. "OK. Sorry, Zoey. But I can tell, you have a thing for Mike, don't you?"

"Maybe." Zoey admitted, her face turning thoughtful. "Like I said, he's very sweet."

"Want me to ask him about you?" I offered.

"Oh, that's OK, you don't have to." Zoey said quickly.

I nodded. "Cool. I think he'll tell you if he likes you, anyway. He's an open book – that's why it's so easy to tell he likes you."

There was no doubt that by the end of the day, I was firm friends with both Zoey and Cameron.

And one more thing. I was starting to have a little crush on Cam.

Dakota was voted off that night. No surprise.

**And that's the second episode, done! Okay, guys, I know there are Zoey haters out there. But I think she has some character (insecure, sweet, aggressive when pushed too far), and I'm going to do my best to give her more. Please review and let me know if I'm doing all right).**


	3. Chapter 3: Mike Isn't Acting?

**Next chapter is up and ready to be read! Thanks for reviewing, Derpimelt1000 and Ali6132.  
><strong>At breakfast the next morning, everyone was just as always. Anne Maria nearly choked Cameron with her hairspray. "Sorry, short stuff. On the upside, now your lungs are waterproof!"

I sat with Mike and Zoey on the other end, just opposite Cameron.

Brick and Jo started competing with how fast they could eat, resulting in Jo having to rescue him when he swallowed his spoon. When it finally came out, it hit Mike. "Ow!" He gasped, and suddenly started talking like his Chester character. "Darned kids! Back in my day, we ate with our hands like decent folk!"

Zoey and I giggled. "You're hilarious!" Zoey smiled. "Unless you're not joking. But...you are, right?"

"Lose the old man impression." Jo ordered. "It offends my sense of victory. But your Russian gymnast Svetlana? How do you summon such strength and precision?"  
>"I..uh, rehearse a lot in front of my mirror." Mike said. I could tell he was lying, but why? Was it to do with his secret? Hmmm, I'd have to get Mike alone and ask him sometime. Maybe he wouldn't tell me, but it would be worth a try.<p>

Lightning nearly choked at the other table, and this time, Dawn saved him with the Heimlich manouver, and picked up the cockroach Lightning had choked on.

"Whoa, that was close." Lightning said. "Thanks, creepy girl."

"Hm? For what?" Dawn asked, glancing up. She stroked the roach. "You're safe now, little one."

Awww, she'd been trying to save the roach, not Lightning.

I went over to Dawn, unable to force down any more of Chef's gruel. "Um, Dawn?" I asked. "Does the roach...talk to you?"

Dawn didn't look up from the roach as she answered. "I can understand many creatures."

"Like, the same way you read auras?" I asked. That was the one thing I'd picked up about Dawn. She was really creepy, but only because she seemed to just "know" things, claiming that she got them from people's auras.

Dawn nodded, but again, she didn't look up.

We had to evacuate pretty quickly, because a mutant rat started creating havoc.

"Attention, campers!" Chris' voice blared through the loudspeakers. "Please head to the looming tragedy that is Mount Looming Tragedy. The race begins now!"

We got there pretty quickly, but Cameron was so out of breath, he actually threw up.

"If we were hamsters, I would've eaten you by now." Jo informed him. She glanced at me. "And probably you, too, strawberry shortcake."

OK, that was going too far. She was obviously making a reference to my hair and height, but using a kiddie character to do it? Once this challenge was over, I was going to kill her.

Chris explained our challenge. "Part 1 is an uphill battle. You have to climb all the way up to that cliff." he pointed. "First team to reach the top gets advantage in Part 2. You can climb using your hands, or whatever you find in the pile." he gestured to a pile of junk. "Don't worry, this junkyard doesn't have a dog. It has a giant mutant beetle!"

We gasped. It was a giant roach, about fifty times bigger than the one Dawn had rescued from Lightning's throat.

It was time to go. "Let's hustle, Maggots! Double time!" Jo yelled out.

Poor Cameron had the most trouble. I pulled myself up on one ledge, and had to try to pull him up. He was really weak, since he'd probably never had to lift a thing in his life, apart from books. He slipped again.

"You can do it, Cam! Focus!" Zoey called down.

I reached down. "Cam, I'll help!" I managed to pull him up onto the first ledge, at least, and happened to look up. Mike was helping Zoey up, and they were, at that moment, staring into each other's eyes, smiling. Cute!

Jo was still yelling at everyone. She and Brick were at the highest point.

Lightning was high up, too, and yelling sha-something the whole time. I was actually relieved to hear Scott yelling at him to shut up.

"Get ready to lose to a girl again!" I heard Jo say to Lightning.

The reason I mention her saying that was because I also heard Lightning ask "What girl? Who's he talking about?"

I kept pulling at Cameron, but looking down, I saw another team member not even trying.

"Anne Maria, get up here before I throw something down!" I yelled.

"No way!" the girl argued. "I'm not ruining my nails!"

Actually, all of us fell after Lightning knocked some rocks down. I landed on top of Cameron, who groaned and reached out.

Anne Maria happened to be standing there, and she slapped his hand away. "Don't touch the hair!"

I jumped off Cameron and snapped "If you don't help, _I _will be the one touching your hair – because I will make sure it is messed up by the time I'm finished with it."

"Don't mess with me, shortie." Anne Maria scowled.

"Oh, I'm not messing with you." I shot back. "Just your hairdryer which is hidden in your hair and which Chris should be confiscating right now!" I yelled it out, but Chris ignored me.

Meanwhile, B was trying to make something from the junk pile, so Zoey, Mike, Cameron and I also started searching, while the fire-breathing roach attacked Sam for his not-so-good recorder playing.

"Hey! Hey, poof head!" Jo was yelling down at Anne Maria. "Too bad they don't make spray-on style! You could use some!"

Anne Maria clutched her hairspray can so hard it exploded. "What did you say to me? Oh, it is on!" She started climbing, and when Chef started throwing ice blocks down, they didn't work because of how hard her hair was. "I'm coming for you, Pasty!" she screamed at Jo. Well, at least Jo made her climb.

The rest of us found ways to climb. Zoey found rope, Mike found suction plugs, Cameron found bubblegum, and me? Well, I actually found a couple of hooks to pull myself up with.

The Toxic Rats won, because of B's invention, even though Jo got up first. And Anne Maria accidentally punched out Brick instead of Jo.

The next part of the challenge was in an icy part of the island. Everyone was shivering. I mean, come on – pink jeans and a blue T-shirt were not good clothes for snow.

Part 2 had two ways to win. Each team got a snowy fort. We either had to destroy the enemy's fort, or capture their flag.

We got the good fort, because Scott told the others to take the cruddy one, that it was nicer on the inside than the outside. But ours was the good one!

The boys slapped palms. I jumped up and down. "We rock!"

We had a shovel to hurl snowballs with surprises in them to cause damage – we couldn't be sure if it would damage our own fort, or the other team's fort, though. First, we had to choose a captain.

"As team captain, I say we-" Brick and Jo started saying at the same time. They ended up thumb wrestling. Jo won.

Brick saluted. "Never met a girl stronger than me, not even my mom."

Jo started ordering us around. "Brick, Lazy, Zoey, you're on offence. Capture the enemy's flag. The rest of us will guard the fort and fire the enemy's snowball."

Mike caught hold of Zoey's hand. "Be careful. I think Scott's psycho."

"And you...uh...don't let Svetlana pull a hamstring!" Zoey said, but she looked like she knew that wasn't the best thing to say. "I'm just gonna go over here..."

I grinned at Mike. "So..." I said. "You and Zoey? You guys are so cute together."

I saw a slight tinge of red on Mike's dark skin, and he diverted his gaze to the ground for a moment.

"I'm not making fun or anything." I told him. "You like her, right?"

"Enough talking!" Jo yelled, just as a snowball hit our fort. "Come on, people, we have to attack!"

Cameron was clinging to the flag, and Anne Maria didn't follow Jo's orders until she grabbed the spray can and threw it out so she'd go after it – and after the flag. "This ain't over!"

Jo laughed. "Too easy!"

Suddenly, our fort began melting. Cameron clung onto the flag,

"Shortcake, help guard the flag – if one of the others gets it, they'll probably drag him along." Jo ordered. "Mike, do your Svetlana thing and use the catapult."

Mike frowned in concentration. "I can't! My personality – I mean, impressions, are hard to..."

"First up on the vault...five time Russian champ..." Cameron called.

"Is Svetlana!" Mike had suddenly turned back into her, and he went straight for the flag, bouncing off the shovel and towards the Rats' fort.

"Did he say 'personality'?" I whispered to Cameron. "Like, he's not acting – she's another personality?"

Cameron nodded. "That's why he couldn't do it before I said that. It's psychological."

Sadly, our fire-breathing roach started attacking as our fort melted around us. "I want my bubble! I want my bubble!" Cameron screamed.

"Leave him alone, destructive!" I yelled out. "We didn't do anything to you!"

The roach shot fire at me, which I ducked.

But somehow, our fort was still standing when the Rats' one melted. I looked out. Scott was pointing at B. "Nice magnifying lens, _Beverly. _That's sabotage!"

But we'd won – we got hot chocolate.

Zoey was looking annoyed. "What's wrong?" I asked.

"Mike." she said. "He was really sweet to me earlier today, but when he was helping us capture the flag, he started doing another impression of some guy called Vito. I thought he liked me, but then when I tried to take the flag, he said something about making an appointment to be around him."

I frowned. I'd have to talk to Cameron about it, but I didn't say anything to Zoey just yet. It was becoming obvious what Mike's secret could be – if he was saying it was acting, and it wasn't, then his secret had to be that he had split personalities! And if he didn't want anyone to know that, then I wouldn't tell Zoey.

All I said was "Well, you know Mike, a true actor. But seriously, he really does like you. When he told you to be careful around Scott, it was obvious how much he really cares about you."

I talked to Cameron afterwards, about Mike. "So, what you think is that his impressions are actually...alternate personalities?"

"It would explain a lot." Cameron said. "If Mike had Svetlana's skills as himself, then he wouldn't have to act to use them."

"It might also explain what Zoey was telling me." I added. "She said that back in the last challlenge, he was calling himself Vito and treated her like some insignificant little girl. Mike would NEVER do that, even if he was just acting."

B was voted off that night for sabotage. However, another player came back – as an intern. I saw Dakota hanging around that night, wearing the intern uniform.

"How did you get back here?" I asked. "Didn't you get kicked off for not helping your team?"

"Yes." Dakota scowled. "My dad paid for me to come back. But now Chris is making me be an intern! Which means I have to work!"

I couldn't help smiling. "Sorry." I said. "But if you ask me, competing is worse. Does it suck, having lost?"

Dakota tossed her long blonde hair."Yeah. Well, I don't know about it if you're here for the money. I didn't come here for the money, I came here for camera exposure."

I shrugged. "Well, you still get that as an intern, right?" What a princess.

I wasn't interested in seeing more of her, but it looked like I'd have to.

**Next up, Izzy gets a cameo. YAY! Please review!**


	4. Chapter 4: Lost Teammates and Vito

**Right. Let's continue! Thank you for reviewing, Ali6132 and Madison Wooten.**

We were woken up in the middle of the night for the next challenge. An air horn sounded. "RUN! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!"

Yeah, it was just Chris' sick plan to get us out of bed to do the next challenge.

"Thanks, intern." Chris said to Dakota, who had been the one with the air horn.

"Huh?" she exclaimed, obviously not hearing right. She didn't hear properly when Sam said hi to her, either.

"Challenge time!" Chris announced.

"What? Now? In the middle of the night?" Brick's eyes flickered around. "When it's all...y'know, dark?" Jo shot a glare at him, but I gave him a sympathetic smile.

Wow. Army cadet Brick was scared of the dark. I should've seen that one coming.

It got worse. The challenge was a scavenger hunt for three souvenirs – one in the haunted forest, one in a pet cemetery, and one in a cave. The first team to each location also got a clue. But we also had to watch out for booby-traps.

"So be careful, and stick together." Chris warned. "You'll be penalized for each player you lose."

Oh, and only then did Chris tell us that there was a giant mutant spider loose on the island. No, seriously.  
>"What's on the loose?" Dakota shouted, still having problems with her hearing.<p>

"A gigantic mutated spider!" Sam yelled so she could hear.

"Where? Where?" Cameron asked, looking terrified.

I was scared of giant spiders myself, but I reached out to put a hand on Cameron's shoulder. "Cam, listen." I said. "As long as our team sticks together, we can fight the spider, OK? You don't have to be scared."

Cameron seemed to calm down a little, and smiled at me wanly. "Thanks, Shannon." he managed, although he still looked scared.

The Rats got to the location first, but Jo already had a plan. All we had to do was follow the other team to get to our first souvenir.

I could hear Dawn's clear voice reading out the clue. "_Inside a knot is a nest, your souvenir lives with a pest. Find Polaris to travel northwest. _Polaris is the north star!"

We were hiding in a nearby bush as we listened, and we tried to get out of it quickly. But seven people in the same bush kind of slowed us down when we tried to get out.

Once we were all free, we ran the way the Rats had gone, and found Sam and Scott standing by a tree. "Gee," Sam began, "Maybe we should search for the object way over there with the rest of our teammates, cause it's not just the two of us!" A very convincing cover-up. I wondered what had happened to Dawn and Lightning.

Cameron saw the hollow – the nest in the clue Dawn had read out? "Could be a trap." Jo said. "We should send in our most expendable player."

"No one's expendable!" Brick argued.

"Do you wanna play nice, or do you wanna win?" Jo eyed both Cameron and I.

"Don't. Even. Think. About. It." I warned. "You touch me or Cameron, and I'll – if you don't put me down, I'll -aah!" Before I'd finished, Jo had already picked me up like I weighed nothing and thrown me into the knot. I found the key, at least.

"Nice work, Shannon!" Mike complimented.

I climbed out of the hollow, seething. "Jo, you are SO dead!"

"Save it, strawberry shortcake." Jo said, rolling her eyes. "It's not like losing you would've hurt our team."

I fumed silently.

That was when Zoey disappeared, just as Mike started asking her a question. "Zoey? Whoa, where's Zoey? Zoey! ZOEY!"

"And we call off the search and forge ahead." was Jo's response.

"That's against the cadet code!" Brick protested. "Never leave a soldier behind!"

"I agree!" I said. "We get a penalty for every lost player. Which means, we get a penalty if we don't have Zoey with us!"

"We're not leaving her, she left us!" Jo pointed out. "That means she's AWOL. Now move it, strawberry shortcake. You too, GI Joke."

We did run ahead, and pass the Rats after Sam got hurt by a bunch of minefields. Mike still kept calling for Zoey.

I ran next to him. "Mike, I don't think we're going to find her." I said gently. "I'm sure we'll find her at the end of the challenge. For now, we need to focus. Zoey would want us to win."

The pet cemetery was as creepy as Chris had said. This time, Jo pushed Cameron around. "String bean, go get the clue!"

Cameron held up a piece of paper with three sixes and an 18 highlighted in red. "Aren't three sixes supposed to be evil?"

We'd have to look for the numbers around the cemetery. "You mean by ourselves?" Brick asked nervously.

I looked up at him. "Brick, you'll be fine." I whispered so Jo wouldn't hear. "Look for the moon."

As it was, he fell into an open grave and freaked out until Jo pulled him out, and then slapped him across the face.

At that moment, we all noticed the same thing. A dark patch on a certain part of Brick's pants. "It was wet down there and I landed on my crotch!" he said defensively. "I gotta dry off." He ran off. I think we all remembered his embarrassing secret and knew what had really happened, but none of us said anything.

We also heard him scream, but by the time we got to where he was, he was gone.

"Oh well." Jo said calmly. "Two words: Dead. Weight."

Anne Maria, surprisingly, was the one who spoke up. "Hey, Brick may not be attractive in any way, but he is still a person!"

"Yeah, your cutthroat attitude sucks!" added Mike.

"It's called a winning attitude." Jo replied coolly. "Get used to it, or get out of the way."

Mike continued looking for Zoey. In fact, he fell out of a tree, his shirt was pulled off by a twig and he landed on his back, over a grave.

"Omigosh, Mike, I think I found the clue!" Anne Maria said, pointing at the grave he was on. "Look, Shannon!" she said. Sure enough, it had the numbers that were highlighted in the clue.

Mike gave a gasp, and then started speaking in a weird accent. His spiky hair had flattened, too. "Where's the freakin' sun? How am I supposed to get a freakin' tan over here?"

Anne Maria gave a squeal. "Vito!"

So this was the famous Vito. I nudged the guy. "Uh, Vito, right? Nice to meet you, but would you mind turning back into Mike right now? We're kind of busy."

Vito took a step away from me. "Look, kid, don't take this the wrong way, but you gotta be older to get with the Vito, and that means you can't touch me."

I scowled. "I'm sixteen, thank you very much! And I don't want to 'get with' you, as you put it; all I did was nudge you!" Clearly, just asking Mike to come back wasn't working.

We found the key, and several flashlights were in the grave. Vito put the grave back on Jo's orders, and we headed for the cave.

Jo grabbed one of the flashlights from Cameron and I. "Follow my lead, pencil neck and shortcake."

"Where are Anne Maria and Mike?" Cameron suddenly asked.

"Who cares?" Jo said, already in the cave, but we ran back for them.

They were making out.

"Ew!" Cameron exclaimed. "Come on! That is not what Chris meant when he said to stick together!"

I looked at Cameron. "Is it gross that they're making out, or gross that they're doing it here, where anyone could see them?"

Cameron shrugged. "More that they're doing it in front of the world while we're supposed to be doing a challenge."

At least we managed to get them to follow us to the cave, but by that time, Jo was gone, too.

"Would you stop! We need to focus!" Cameron yelled. Finally, Anne Maria and Mike – sorry, Vito – pulled apart and followed us.

"See any clues, Vito, baby?" Anne Maria asked.

"Hey, what's a clue?"

I rolled my eyes. If this was one of Mike's personalities, I was glad the real Mike wasn't an arrogant idiot.

The clue led us to a bunch of hooks.

"Cameron, Shannon, look out!" Anne Maria suddenly screamed.

Before either of us could look around, we were both wrapped in a web-like string, tied together, and then thrown into a web by a giant spider. THE spider.

"Who's landed in the web now?" Jo asked, who was also there, but had the web over her eyes. "Tan job? Couch potato? Freckle face? Come on, don't leave me hanging!"

"It's just me, string bean." Cameron said.

I laughed at him using Jo's name for him. "And strawberry shortcake." I added, following his lead.

"Wow. Both of you lasted longer than I expected."

By this time, Sam and Scott had arrived. But both of them got tied up by the spider, though not thrown into the web.

"Go get the hook, and we'll win!" Anne Maria said to Vito. He ignored her. She gave a sigh. "Go get the hook, and you'll get more of this..." she started making out with him again, this time with Zoey watching.

"Keep your lips off him!" she cried, but it worked.

"Sorry, Red." Anne Maria smirked. "Looks like Vito's only interested in classy girls."

"But...I thought Mike was interested in me!" cried Zoey.

"It's one of his perso – I mean characters." I told her. "Vito's apparently interested in Anne Maria. Trust me, Mike is the real thing, and he's the one who likes you. Anne Maria only loves a shadow."

"Um, Shannon? Zoey?" Cameron said. "SPIDER!" It was coming towards us, and Zoey screamed.

"Zoey?" Mike was suddenly back to his normal self. "Don't move! I"m coming!"

"No, get the hook!" Anne Maria yelled, but Mike wasn't listening.

But suddenly, Cameron broke free of the ropes, also freeing me, and started beating up the spider with all his might. I got to work on trying to free my teammates, planning to free Dawn and Lightning after that. Hey, we had to win. I was going to free them anyhow, so why not do them last?

Mike was having no trouble getting to the web, since he'd turned into Svetlana, and his entrance also cut Brick down.

"Hang on!" Brick called up to the rest of us, but Jo told him to get the hook and win first.

"I need to rescue my teammates!" Brick called up to her.

"No, you need to win! Someone has to!"

"But my code! I can't just leave you behind!"

"Cut and run, soldier! That's an order!" Jo yelled. For some reason, Brick couldn't refuse a direct order, and he did win for us. However, Jo's orders made him lose the game. The rest of us were left in the cave, meaning Brick lost all six of us, while the Rats only lost Dawn and Lightning.

Cameron had beaten up the spider while everyone else was being freed. Now it was revealed to be...a costume. I looked at it. A strangely familiar redhead was lying there. "Boo!" she suddenly exclaimed, and started giggling manically.

"She's one of the old contestants!" I whispered. "Did you ever see her?"

Cameron shook his head.

"Her name's Izzy." I explained. "She's the psycho...at least, until Sierra arrived, but I get why they made her do this. It's a perfect role for her!"

Cameron was never scared of spiders again after that encounter, but he confided to me later that he _was _terrified of Izzy.

We were at elimination for the first time. Zoey was looking hurt because of the thing with Anne Maria. I kept an arm around her in comfort.

"This tension is so delish, I could kiss someone!" Chris exclaimed. "Not you, Mike, we all know where those lips have been. But hey, maybe Brick and Jo wanna kiss and make up?" They were both looking away from each other, arms crossed. "Didn't think so."

Chef was occupied with Izzy and couldn't deliver the last marshmallow – basically, the loser got the Toxic Marshmallow of Loserdom, and then got put into a catapult and took the Hurl of Shame, this season.

"Permission to speak?" Brick stood. "I volunteer for elimination. I don't deserve to stay. I did not follow my own code."

"No kidding, Sir Leaks-A-Lot." Jo teased.

But Chris wasn't hurling Brick. Instead, he was being switched to the Toxic Rats.

"Lame." muttered Anne Maria.

"Thanks again, sir." Brick saluted. "I won't ignore the code again, sir!"

"Whatever." Chris said. Then he hurled Dakota, welcoming her to come back, unlike the contestants.

**That's the fourth episode done! Please review!**


	5. Chapter 5: Lucky Thief

**Oh man, I gotta hurl my favourite character of the season this chapter? Oh well. Thanks for reviewing, Ali6132 and Derpimelt1000 (good idea, but I'm too lazy to reupload, so I'll just start from here).**

I talked to Cameron about Mike the next morning, before anyone else (except Jo, who always went for a workout/run each morning) was up. With Brick on the other team, they were the only ones in the boys' cabin, and Cameron had been studying Mike as he slept, because he often talked in his sleep as one of his personalities. "I've so far documented three alternate personalities. I'm still trying to work out what exactly triggers each of them."

I nodded. "And if we worked out how they're triggered, then it would be easier for Mike to control them and know when they were being triggered!" I sighed. "I know it's kind of awful to view Mike as something scientific...but, he kind of works as a case study. It's really interesting."

Cameron nodded. "I know what you mean – I count Mike as a friend as well as a teammate, but he's also just like a psychology textbook."

However, something happened that morning that put all thoughts of Mike out of my head. I had just finished showering, and put my clothes back on, when I realized something was missing. "Where's my lucky necklace?"

I ran to the mess hall, where everyone else was. "Hey, has anyone seen my necklace? It's a heart-shaped block of amber!"

No one had seen it, but Scott sidled up to me. "Someone's been stealing stuff. I think it's Brick. When he joined our team, Lightning's protein powder immediately went missing! I bet he took it, and he probably took your necklace, too. He's been on both teams, so he knows what stuff everyone values."

I frowned. "Brick? He's not the type. Why would he steal stuff?"

But it did seem strange. Lightning and I weren't the only ones to lose things throughout the day.

But let's start at the beginnning. Soon after I asked about my necklace, Dawn informed me that my Chi was looking shrunken, whatever that meant. She said it was probably because I'd lost my necklace.

"By the way," she said even more quietly, "You should have more confidence in yourself. Your necklace has nothing to do with your luck."

I stared at her. How had she known I considered my amber necklace lucky? "Let me guess, it's in my aura?" I said, heavily sarcastically.

Dawn nodded seriously. "I'm serious, though, Shannon. You have luck because you think you do. Even without your necklace, you need to have that same frame of mind." She smiled sympathetically. "I hope you find it, though."

Chris actually drove us out of the mess hall with a giant raccoon, but there was a plus to the challenge. Not a big one, but still.

Izzy wasn't the only old castmate we saw. Chris introduced the challenge with two blonde girls in a boat. One of them was Dakota. The other was...

"Classic competitor, Bridgette!" Chris announced.

Bridgette was one of the nicest competitors I remembered – chilled, natural, honest, friendly. She'd been good on the first season, but got voted off early on the other two, first because she and her boyfriend Geoff wouldn't stop making out in the second season, and in the third season, she'd been manipulated and not only pretty much cheated on Geoff, but got frozen stuck to a pole and got kicked off.

"Let's get this over with." Bridgette said, frowning. "Remember, my contract said demonstration only."

"Relax, no demo needed." Chris told her. If Bridgette didn't have to do anything...then why did Chris bring her back? At least Izzy had a reason to be around when she was.

The first challenge was for a teammate to grab some skis underwater, in a diving suit. The rest of us would pump air for them. As usual, the winning team would get an advantage – whoever got the skis first.

"Listen up, Maggots, I'm diving!" Jo said.

"You do _everything, _Jo!" I snapped. "Let me have a try at this!"

"Shortcake, take a look at yourself!" Jo said impatiently. "I doubt you could even move in a diving suit. And I think we all know who the strongest swimmer is."

"What are you saying, none of us can do it?" Anne Maria argued. Jo answered by putting the diving helmet on Cameron, who instantly fell over.

I folded my arms. "That's not fair – Cameron's spent most of his life in a bubble. The rest of us haven't."

But Jo wouldn't listen. "Get busy pumping air, and don't make me use my whistle...all right, who took my whistle?"

Yes, that was the next thing to go missing.

The other team made Brick dive. They would – as if Brick and Jo weren't competitive enough with each other!

Our team had even more drama. I crouched with Cameron and Anne Maria who were yelling for Jo, but I was keeping an ear out for a conversation Mike and Zoey were having about the thing with Vito.

"I swear, I don't know how I ended up kissing Anne Maria!" Mike was telling her. "Sometimes I get so deep into character, that I don't know what I'm doing!" I would really need to talk to him about his personalities – and soon. I knew Zoey pretty well now, and I wanted to try to get him to see that she wouldn't get weird on him for that.

"So...you're like a method actor?" Zoey was asking.

"Exactly! Look, Zoey, you're, like, the most amazing girl I've ever met!"

"The most amazing?" I knew Zoey would start smiling at this.

"Yeah! And if you don't like my...um...funny characters, then I'll totally retire them!"

"I don't want you to give up acting, but maybe just...tone it down?"

"Consider it toned."

It was Anne Maria who realized that Zoey was standing on the air tubes, and pushed her off.

"Don't push!" Zoey snapped, giving her a shove back. "Are you wearing orange paint?" she asked, looking at her hand, which was coated in fake tan.

"Oh, no. Nobody disrespects the tan!" Anne Maria pushed Zoey so hard she fell over, and because she hung on to the first thing she could think of – Mike's shirt – it ripped off him.

Mike gasped, and his hair looked slicked back. I knew before he spoke that it was Vito again. "Ladies, why fight? There's enough candy for everyone, candy being me."

"Oh yeah, Vito!" Anne Maria grinned, being all over him again. "Gimme some sugar."

Poor Zoey. "I get the message!" she said, looking like she was about to cry. I walked down the beach with her, keeping silent until she seemed ready to talk.

"I don't know what Mike's doing." I said finally.

"I don't get these mixed messages he's sending." Zoey murmured. "First he calls me amazing, then he becomes that Vito guy and suddenly he's all over Anne Maria."

"I didn't mind her until she started being all over him." I remarked. "It's like Mike can't control his characters, and she just takes advantage of it all."

Zoey started drawing a broken heart in the sand.

Dawn, who was collecting shells, came up. She smiled at me and then said "Don't worry, Zoey. You won't be lonely forever."

Zoey looked up in shock, and then said "Oh. Hey, Dawn. Well, tell that to Anne Maria and Mike. Or should I call him Vito?"

"Trust me, Mike likes you a lot." Dawn told her.

"How can you be so sure?" Zoey asked.

"It's all over his aura." Dawn answered. "The Mike parts of it, anyway."

"Dawn, can I ask you something?" I said. "Will there be anyone...out there...you know, for me?"

Dawn's ethereal-looking blue eyes focused on me. "I can see that part of your aura." she smiled. "You like C-"

"Shh!" I whispered.

"Sorry." Dawn whispered back. "You like Cameron, don't you?"

She could see it. And yes, I did. I liked Cameron a lot. At first, we were just friends, but I liked him the more I hung out with him. He was adorable – super-smart, but pretty innocent, and he was sweet with it. That was just the type I liked.

"Don't worry, he likes you too." Dawn said. "I've seen his aura."

I still couldn't be sure, and Zoey had suddenly processed what Dawn had said to her. "What do you mean, the Mike parts?"

There was a pause.

"Dawn?" The blonde had completely disappeared. Zoey and I looked at each other.

Zoey gave a sigh. "To be honest, I don't know about Dawn. She's nice, but she creeps me out sometimes. I mean, reading auras, talking to animals...teleporting?""

"I like her." I answered. "She's such a sweet person. She does creep me out a bit, but I don't mind."

The Rats won the first challenge. They got a speedboat for the next part of the challenge. We got a leaky dinghy.

Everyone seemed to be looking at Brick suspiciously, now. Scott outright called him a "stealer", which he clearly took as "stealing victory".

The challenge was to waterski, and be the first to ring three bells on those spiky bomb things. It was four, but Bridgette and Dakota accidentally hit one with their boat.

"Rude!" snapped Dakota, clinging to a buoy.

Bridgette landed on the dock, and Chris laughed. "See? You totally got to demo!"

I ran over and helped Bridgette up. "Are you OK?"

But there was no time for her to answer. We had to start the challenge. Three campers would waterski (four on our team), one would drive, and one, would fire a cannon full of gulls at the other team – rattlesnake-seagulls.

"I'll drive, if that's OK with everybody." Zoey offered.

"Whatever." Jo shrugged. "I'm gunning!"

"I'm tannin'!" Vito announced.

"And I'm watching Vito!" Anne Maria added.

"And I'm telling you two to stop admiring each other and focus on the freakin' challenge!" I yelled. Zoey was seething.

So Vito stood on one ski, Anne Maria on the other, and Cameron and I were on their shoulders – Cameron on Anne Maria's, and me on Vito's.

Vito was good for one thing – he did punch Fang in the nose when he was following us.

"Go get your missing tooth from Scott!" I yelled at Fang. "Remember, he's got it? He's over there!" I pointed.

When we were losing, the Rats having hit one bell, Cameron managed to say something to bring out Svetlana.

"I can't stay here if he's going to start gymnastics!" I panicked.

Cameron held out a hand to me, shifting so he was on only one of Anne Maria's shoulders. I took his hand to step onto her other shoulder...and didn't let go again.

Holding Cameron's hand felt really nice, and he seemed not to notice I was hanging on. I mean, I loosened my grip on it, and he didn't let go.

It was a good thing I'd moved. Svetlana did some awesome manuvers. But we crashed into a rock. We had to get the last one.

Jo looked at me and then Cameron. "Time to take one for the team, string bean!" she yelled, grabbing Cameron and hurling him to touch the last bell.

When the bomb exploded, we had won.

"Cam!" I cried, but he'd have to go into infirmary for awhile. We all congratulated him.

Later that night, something strange came to light. The Rats discovered that all the stuff that had been taken was found in Dawn's bag. Jo's whistle, Lightning's protein, my necklace – and the other things that had been stolen, like Scott's shark tooth and Anne Maria's hairbrush.

"Friends, you must listen to me." Dawn pleaded. "I was framed!"

"Forget that!" Anne Maria snapped. "You're getting a beatdown!"

Jo blew her whistle. "Back off, helmet hair, this one's mine!"

"Ladies, ladies, this is a Rat problem." Scott said. He said they'd deal with it. Everyone walked off except for Scott. "See you at elimination." he said before leaving.

Dawn looked at me, the only one who hadn't left.

I gave a sigh. "Dawn, you said you hoped I'd find my necklace. But you also said I depended on it too much. Was taking it your way to get me to see that?"

"I didn't take it!" Dawn said pleadingly. "Please, Shannon. I wouldn't do something so underhanded."

I stayed calm. "How did it get into your bag, then? You say you were framed. When did you leave your bag unattended?"

"I forgot it at the dock." Dawn murmured. "When I came in to talk to my teammates, Scott had it, and he purposely spilled everything out of it to make it look like I'd taken those things. It wasn't me."

I frowned, starting to believe her now. It was true that stealing didn't seem like something she'd do. "That would point to Scott, but he said he'd lost his shark tooth. Why would he frame you, anyway?"

"Because I discovered that he is a traitor. "Dawn answered, her pale face contorting into a scowl. "I'm done for now, I know it. Shannon?"

"What is it?" I asked.

"Warn your team." Dawn said. "Expose Scott for the traitor he is. Please."

I managed a little smile. "I'll try. I'm sorry, Dawn. I knew the idea of you stealing didn't sound right. I'll miss you."

Dawn left that night at elimination. I knew I would miss her a lot, even though we weren't on the same team.

**Yes, Dawn is my favourite! It sucks that she left so early. Cameron is my second favourite. But Dawn is kind of an expy of Luna Lovegood from Harry Potter, my favourite HP character, so I love Dawn too. Please review!**


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